Bahrain fines 100 summer work ban violators

Manama, August 29, 2011

Bahrain’s inspectors have uncovered around 100 violations of summer ban on outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day.

Labour Ministry officials have made 15,000 visits to various worksites since the law came into force at the beginning of July.

Companies flouting the ban were fined between BD50 ($132.60) and BD300 per worker caught working outdoors between midday and 4pm.

'The overall response of the work ban was this time far better than it was in previous years and we have seen a very high level of implementation,' said a ministry official.

'Final figures will, however, be released after the ban officially comes to an end on Wednesday. The afternoon ban is now a culture and people are generally following it. Over the years, there has been more and more awareness and more and more people are getting over the ban by changing their duty hours or working at night.'

Another official earlier said amended work timings during Ramadan were believed to have also led to a significant reduction in the number of firms caught flouting the ban.

He also credited the changed hours for fewer numbers of workers reporting to hospital with heat-related health conditions.

Productivity

The official said he expected an improvement on last year's compliance rate of 98 per cent with the ban, which comes into effect from midday to 4pm throughout July and August.

He said far from hitting the profits of companies, the law had helped workers perform better.

Businessmen initially complained the two-month ban would cost them hundreds of thousands of dinars.

But Humaidan said while people were generally more aware and were not working outdoors when the ban is in place, what was encouraging is that more and more employers were coming to the ministry for guidelines. – TradeArabia News Service